Raynford Avery Humphrey (born January 8, 1986), better known by his stage name Preme (/priːm/ PREEM;[2] formerly P Reign), is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is of Guyanese descent. He first gained recognition for his guest appearances on the 2011 singles "Alone Again" by Alyssa Reid and "Invincible" by Hedley. The songs peaked at numbers 11 and nine respectively on the Canadian Hot 100.[3] He signed with RCA Records to release his debut extended play Dear Summer EP (2014), which contained the singles "DnF" (featuring Drake and Future), "Chickens" (featuring Waka Flocka Flame) and "We Them Niggas" (featuring ASAP Rocky).
Preme | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Raynford Avery Humphrey |
| Also known as |
|
| Born | January 8, 1986 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Canadian hip hop |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | |
| Children | 2 |
In 2018, he rebranded in favor of the stage name Preme, subsequently launching his own label Reps Ups Entertainment in a joint-venture with Columbia Records. That same year, his song "Jackie Chan" featuring guest Post Malone was remixed by Tiësto and Dzeko's, which allowed it to enter the Billboard Hot 100.[3]
Career
Preme, also known as The King, the King of Da North, released his debut solo single in 2008 entitled "You Know I'm Fly", which topped the PunchMuch Canadian interactive music channel. His follow-up singles are "Money in My Pocket" (2009) and "In My Hood" (2010), produced by T-Minus. He is known as Preme because of his preterm birth, Preme being a changed spelling of "preemie", which is slang for premature.
Francis and the Lights, k-os, and Reign all toured with Drake on his Away from Home Tour across North America. Reign performed as an opening act. Due to legal troubles at the time, Reign was not able to cross into the United States and thus toured only in Canadian cities.
Alyssa Reid's big international hit "Alone Again" features P Reign. The single was a hit in Canada and many European charts and reached number 2 on UK Singles Chart. Canadian band Hedley's hit "Invincible" taken from their album Storms features P Reign. The single released August 23, 2011 reached number 9 on Canadian Hot 100 and was certified double platinum.
The Canadian Dream is his debut mixtape and was released in early 2008. His sophomore mixtape is called When It Reigns It Pours and was released on November 1, 2010. His third mixtape was to be called True Kings Don't Die but was changed to Dear America and its release date was scheduled for July 4, 2013 but was postponed and released under Sony/RCA as an EP. He also still release a mixtape a week later with additional songs also called Dear America. Billboard magazine reported in March 2013 that P Reign is collaborating with rapper A$AP Rocky for the next release "We Them Niggas" that was a part of P Reign's Dear America EP. P Reign is also collaborating with artists such as French Montana, Waka Flocka Flame and Drake.[4] The EP was finally released on September 9, 2014. His song "Realest in the City" featuring Meek Mill and PartyNextDoor reached #1 on Billboard's "Emerging Artists" chart.[5]
Personal life
Preme has a son who was born in 2006.
In 2008, Reign was charged with nine counts of weapons possession charges after Toronto Police found three loaded handguns in the backseat of his leased Cadillac.[6] He was acquitted of all charges on May 30, 2011.[7] Preme referenced this on the unofficial remix to the song "Us" by Lil Reese rapping, "Drizzy dropped a hundred on my lawyer and I beat the case!"
Preme is close friends with fellow Torontonian rapper Drake[8] and both have alluded to this on respective tracks. In the song "Intro" of his second mixtape, Reign raps "Shout out to Drizzy Drake, yeah that's my lil' bro / before the deal, we gettin' change like the corner store." Drake raps in the remake to Big Page's single "I'm Still Fly", "My brother P Reign knows we fuck with the same hoes / Plus he taught me how to spot an officer in plain clothes."[4] Most recently, the two would collaborate (along with Southern rapper Future) on the single "DnF" from Reign's Dear America EP.
Discography
As P. Reign
Extended plays
- 2014: Dear America EP
Mixtapes
- 2008: The Canadian Dream
- 2010: When It Reigns It Pours
- 2014: Dear America
- 2015: Off the Books
Singles
As lead artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | US | US R&B | US Rap | |||
| "Money in My Pocket" | 2009 | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles |
| "In My Hood" | 2010 | — | — | — | — | |
| "Call My Name" (featuring Kim Davis and Lokz) | — | — | — | — | ||
| "We Them Niggas" (featuring ASAP Rocky) | 2014 | — | — | — | — | Dear America |
| "Chickens" (featuring Waka Flocka Flame) | — | — | — | — | ||
| "DnF" (featuring Drake and Future) | — | — | 41 | — | ||
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN | BEL | IRL | NL | SCO | |||||
| "Alone Again" (Alyssa Reid featuring P Reign) | 2011 | 11 | 25 | 15 | 59 | 2 | The Game | ||
| "Invincible" (Hedley featuring P Reign) | 9 | — | — | — | — |
| Storms | ||
| "—" denotes a title that did not chart, or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||
Guest appearances
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Go Hard" | 2010 | Strizzy Kastro, Belly | Non-album singles |
| "Reality" | 2011 | DJ Charlie Brown, Belly, Jahvon, Big Lean | |
| "Peace Out" | Karl Wolf | ||
| "Schemin Up" | 2014 | OB O'Brien, Drake | |
| "Alright" | 2019 | Trippie Redd, Wiz Khalifa |
As Preme
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| CAN [10] | ||
| Light of Day[11] |
| 62 |
Extended plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Link Up with Popcaan |
|
Singles
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAN [12] | AUS [13] | AUT [14] | GER [15] | IRE [16] | NLD [17] | NOR [18] | SWI [19] | UK [20] | US [21] | ||||
| "Jackie Chan"[22] (Tiësto and Dzeko featuring Preme and Post Malone) | 2018 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 25 | 17 | 3 | 13 | 27 | 5 | 52 | The London Sessions | |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Awards | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | MuchMusic Video Awards[27] | Hip Hop Video of the Year | "Call My Name" | Nominated |
| Pop Video of the Year | "Alone Again" (with Alyssa Reid) | Nominated | ||
| 2012 | MuchMusic Video Awards[28] | Video of the Year | "Invincible" (with Hedley) | Nominated |
| Best Cinematography | Nominated | |||
| Most Streamed Video of the Year | Nominated | |||
| Your Fave Video of the Year | Nominated | |||
| 2014 | Much Music Video Awards[29] | Hip Hop Video of the Year | "We Them" (with ASAP Rocky) | Nominated |
| 2015 | Juno Awards[30] | Rap Recording of the Year | Dear America | Nominated |
| Much Music Video Awards[31] | Hip Hop Video of the Year | "DnF" (with Drake and Future) | Won |